The Epic Electronic Health Record System, eStar, will go live at Vanderbilt University Medical Center (VUMC) on Nov. 2 and will enable Medical Center health care providers to prescribe controlled substances electronically.

In 2010, the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) implemented an Interim Final Rule on safeguards for e-prescribing controlled substances (EPCS) that Electronic Health Records applications and providers must comply with, referred to as “DEA EPCS compliance.”

In order to comply with DEA requirements, VUMC is deploying a Multi-Factor Authentication (MFA) solution. This solution enables providers to verify their identity within Epic when prescribing controlled substances electronically.

VUMC selected the Gemalto SafeNet system for providing MFA capabilities. SafeNet uses a mobile application, MobilePASS+, to generate multi-factor authentication codes that can be used within Epic to verify the identity of providers. This application is available for download on both Apple iOS devices (iPhone, iPad, etc.) and Android devices.

Users requiring MFA will receive an email containing enrollment instructions for the Gemalto SafeNet system, and download and activation instructions for MobilePASS+. Information on how to use MobilePASS+ to verify identity within Epic will be provided to users when they attend Epic training sessions.